Previously

San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio renewed his criticism of the city’s pension system Monday, releasing an analysis that estimates the 10 highest-paid pensioners will be paid $61 million over 25 years.

The analysis took their annual pension payments, which top out at $299,103, and allowed for factors such as a 2 percent annual cost-of-living increase over their expected lifetime (82 for men, 85 for women).

DeMaio and Sacramento-area accountant Marcia Fritz, who made the projections, said the pensions paint San Diego in as bad a light as Bell, a comparison that some of DeMaio’s critics said was overblown.

Bell is the small Los Angeles suburb where outrage over excessive city pay and benefits has captured national attention and led to eight arrests, including a former administrator whose annual pension could be nearly $1 million.

“This is actually worse than Bell, believe it or not,” said Fritz, who did the analysis for a Citrus Heights-based nonprofit pension watchdog organization called California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility.

Michael Zucchet, the general manager for San Diego’s largest city employees union, did not believe any such thing.

“Just the use of the city of Bell, which doesn’t resemble anything that’s happening in San Diego factually, legally or contractually, demonstrates the almost hysterical political nature of this rhetoric,” Zucchet said.

DeMaio and Fritz argued that the San Diego pensions have a higher impact than those in Bell because the city has its own pension system, where the costs for Bell will be spread across the massive state pension bureaucracy that most cities use.

“I think in terms of the cost to taxpayers and in terms of the number of instances of excessive pensions, San Diego certainly ranks up there as a poster child in the same league as Bell,” DeMaio said.

He called it “unsustainable and indefensible” that, among other things, a former San Diego assistant city attorney could get $8 million over time and that a former city librarian could collect $6 million.

“We are finally getting to more and more clarity on just how rigged this system is and just how abusive the payouts are, and that’s what I think the biggest element of the report is,” DeMaio said.

In his call for pension system fixes, DeMaio also criticized several former City Council members who started drawing pensions at a young age or are collecting them while serving in or running for higher office.

DeMaio is opposed to the Nov. 2 ballot measure, Proposition D, which would raise the city sales tax if certain city pension and operating costs are lowered.

Rachel Laing, a spokeswoman for a group pushing for Proposition D, dismissed DeMaio’s report.”

“The fact that some SD retirees are getting exorbitant pensions is pretty dog-bites-man,” Laing wrote by e-mail. “These benefits were granted by people who are no longer in office and have been largely addressed” through employee concessions and a new pension system for new hires.

DeMaio acknowledged afterward that some information he and Fritz shared at their news conference, such as pensions for elected officials, has been documented and discussed in City Hall and San Diego for years.

But he called “brand-new” and “jaw-dropping” the $61 million figure that the city’s highest-paid pensioners stand to get between now and 2035.

DeMaio also criticized several former council members Monday for contributing to the pension problems he sees.

He referred to former council members Zucchet, Brian Maienschein, Toni Atkins and Jim Madaffer and former City Attorney Casey Gwinn as an “Early Risers Club” of “politicians drawing retirements at absurdly young ages,” before they turn 50.

DeMaio was elected in 2008 after saying he would not take a pension. His list Monday neglected to mention former council members Juan Vargas and Ralph Inzunza; his office said Fritz overlooked them.

Zucchet, who began accepting his city pension at age 35, said he did so legally under rules in place when he took office in 2002.

“It’s old news,” Zucchet said. “The elected officials retirement system has been discussed and even litigated for the last five years.... The case was literally laughed out of court, and the city was then obligated to pay our legal fees.”

DeMaio also criticized current Council President Ben Hueso, who is running for state Assembly, and former council members Atkins, a state Assembly candidate, Juan Vargas, a state Senate candidate, and Sen. Christine Kehoe, for either being or aspiring to be “double-dippers” for “getting a taxpayer-funded salary on top of a city pension.”

None of the four responded to interview requests Monday.

In a text message, Hueso’s spokeswoman said, “I don’t think Ben is going to dignify that with an answer.”